With two good meals in the last two outing at Tangerine, I was excited to meet the owner of Tangerine. Finally. Dropping in sharp at the appointed time, the unassuming owner walks in and from that time on till desert, he took the four of us on a road trip down Tangerine, its menu, its new menu and the likes. First things first, a lot of dishes on Tangerine's menu have been thought of in house and he takes pride that a few names might mean something else in a different world.  Now that makes a lot of sense!

Every time I go to Tangerine, the first page of the menu is always called the 'New Menu' and that day we found out that they change their menu every six months and the popular stuff from the 'new menu' gets integrated to their regular menu. Apparently, they do this every six month. Religiously. In the process,  they wean out unpopular stuff from their existing menu, so this gives them a fairly updated menu. During the course of the meal, I discovered some new stuff from the menu that I will now be certain to try out the next time I am there.

First of the lot is the Lamb Cornetto, shaped like the Cornetto ice cream, but stuffed with an excellent lamb mince instead of ice cream!!!! The next, almost mind blowing stuff, was the chicken skewers. Apparently it is their own creation and the flavours were quite intense and was easily among the best two dishes of the night. A must try when you're in Tangerine. We went with our usual favourites for the soup, the Mushroom Mascarpone and a new Prawn Bisque, both of which were very predictable. While we waited for the main course, we had a chat on the missing Malaysian airlines, who the next PM could be and other life altering discussions.

And the mains arrived. While the jacket potatoes that come with most steaks are liked by most people, very few know that the mashed potato at Tangerine is outstanding. And since there is a lot of effort that goes into making it, it is not offered as an option for the sides. Fair enough I guess, but in the process very few get to taste good mashed potatoes. There are hardly any lumps in the mash and they don't use potato starch, but the real potatoes. No short cuts and that explains the wonderful mash. But going beyond the mash, the best dish of the day for me was my dish, the Beef Peruvian. I was not asked how I wanted the beef and when the dish arrived , I knew why. This had to be made well done and I don't think it would have tasted well if done any other way. I am not sure, but I think 'well done' is the best way to have it. It was an excellent dish with very good depth in flavour and I enjoyed it with the mash. The other dishes were a very good Prawn Candolim with flavours inspired by the Goa,  a nice grilled chicken called the Chicken Bruno and a Roast Chicken that was very predictable.

Since we always have the Death by Chocolate at Tangerine, we decided to try something else and therefore ended the meal with two very good dessert, the Lemon Cheese cake and the Strawberry Crumble. I was getting late for my ride as I was leaving to Bangalore that night and so I left, leaving the other three with the owner! As always a dinner conversation with friends and a new friend to try and learn something about the philosophy of a restaurant turned out to be a wonderful evening. My flash batteries had died and so I have used the photos from a fellow blogger, Shadir from Chennai Soru. Thanks Shadir.

And Tangerine is now open in Bangalore and Coimbatore!!!

So with the new office in Bangalore set between two 'food' streets in Koramangala, eating out has never been easier and the choice is immense! Though au bon pain is now a 10 minutes walk away, I guess, I will still miss it at times, especially if Yana is a benchmark! So the three of walked around, the breakfast at au bon pain still fresh in our minds and decided to try a new place. With an above average review at Zomato, this might not have been a bad choice.

The menu is extensive to say the least. Sizzlers and Steaks, though form the majority, the variety is mind blowing! The ambiance is very rustic and is not bad for a sizzler place! We were the only ones in the restaurant for lunch at about 230, but that did not turn us off! The price point was significantly higher with an average sizzler priced at about Rs. 450 and specials priced at Rs. 525 and seafood with prawns, etc priced at about Rs. 600.  The waiters were knowledgeable and were able to suggest dishes based on our liking! So the order was one veg sizzler, one seafood supreme and one tenderloin steak done medium!

This is what we got - three large sizzler plates, overloaded with rice, veggies, soggy french fries and the dish of our choice with almost the same flavour across the dishes. It almost felt like there was only one sauce in the kitchen. The beef steak was white! No medium steak will be white, but to their credit, the meat was super super soft and that was the only thing I enjoyed there. The seafood supreme had a few super tiny prawn pieces and some fish and the veggie sizzler had what we had in larger portions without the meat!

To put things in perspective, for about Rs. 1800, three of us had a superb meal at Smoke House Deli in Bangalore and my steak there superb. The meal here was much less than superb and with the competition around, I don't know how they can survive with this price point for average food. But the folks in Bangalore seem to like it and I guess, you cannot run a restaurant in Bangalore for Chennai foodies coming and eating there once in a lifetime! But I am not going back there.

But I would love an opinion! Did I order the wrong things? Did we order the three worst dishes, thought all three were suggested by the waiters and what they said will be on the dish is exactly what was in it. Or are the large portions making up for the taste? I mean, it is not bad, but for Rs. 600 bucks, you can get a much better dish in Bangalore than the Sea food sizzler we had!

So basically, I would go here for sizzlers at Rs. 300. Definitely not at the current prices!

Yeah, we did not eat desserts! Had a kulfi outside!

2.5/5

Yana Sizzlers is in Koramangala, 60 feet road, 5th block, the same road that has Mainland China.

"Wishing you a very happy birthday. Check you email, Wasim," said the birthday wish on Facebook. And simultaneously my email had a similar birthday wish and a gyft! Yeah, gyft! I was gifted a 5 course meal for two at CHOP by Sandy! Gift experiences, not stuff says the tagline. So, I opened up the website to look at what all restaurants they have tied up with and was surprised to find that eating out is the least of their focus. I mean, there was a 'Personalised cooking experience with a Le Cordon Bleu trained chef for Rs 2500, a spice trail hunt for Rs 1500, a Bazaar trail at Mylapore and stuff like that. Lots to do with food but not all were restaurant oriented and that is a nice thing! By the time I noticed the gift, we had made other plans for my birthday, so we scheduled this dinner for a another day and all of it was handled by GYFTLOVE.

Back to the food at CHOP that I was gifted - a 5 course meal. We were served a minestrone soup with garlic bread and compressed watermelon salad as the first and second course. The minestrone soup was superb and I am a fan of minestrone soup, so it was a double whammy, while the compressed watermelon salad was outstanding! It had watermelon, green, a superb cheese (I think it was feta) and nuts (I am not sure if it was pecan or pine nuts).

We were offered a choice for the starters and we chose a grilled wasabi prawns and a potato dumpling - the dumplings were superb, the prawns were very nice but there was no trace of wasabi on the prawns, so though I liked it, I think it is wrongly named or wrongly made on that day. The taste won, so no comparisons. The main course was quite mixed - the brick chicken was not flavourful at all and we left more than half of it - the other choices were baby rack (I don't eat pork, so out of the question), the steak which I had and I don't remember the other choice. My main course - the steak (done medium with mushroom sauce) was excellent with the mash and beetroot salad.

The desserts were just what you would expect from Sandy's - outstanding. The Nutella Tiramisu was nice and creamy and yummy, while the brownie with ice cream was a crumbled brownie. Except for the brick chicken, the meal was excellent! The meal is worth Rs 2500 and I am not sure if Sandy's offers this for walk ins, I believe this is only for gifting and contest winners, but I could be wrong. If you decided to gift yourself or somebody, you could use GYFTLOVE for the same.

4/5 for this

CHOP by SANDY's is tiny steakhouse on TTK Road diagonally opp Liberty Scans on the same road as Benjarong. 

It's been two years, at least, I think. Tangerine was once the go-to-place for steaks and sizzlers, but after an onslaught by various other places, and a couple of bad experiences, I sort of forgot about Tangerine. Last weekend, my friend and I were both craving for a nice sizzler and so we decided to try out Tangerine after another friend had tried it and said that her meal was enjoyable.

We started off with a simple mushroom and mascaporne soup - it was nice simple and just about right and this was followed by a 'Take 5' - a grilled chicken with lemongrass, oregano and garlic - which was excellent. We then went for the Steaks - my friend asked for a grilled lamb in mushroom sauce in a sizzler and I chose a stuffed chicken breast steak from their 'special menu'. Both of us loved our steaks, the lamb was soft, juicy and succulent and the flavour was fantastic, while my chicken breast was stuffed to perfection and the sauce was brilliant. The jacket potatoes they serve here with the cream on top is quite good and they are generous with the sauce too. My friend asked for more sauce for his steak and it was served, so no qualms there.

The portions are very satisfactory and we almost had no place for dessert - but who can say no the 'Death by Chocolate' here? It is really death by chocolate and I cannot eat the whole thing because it starts to hit me, but chocolate lovers who can die in chocolates would love this. It is chocolate in a chocolate shell drenched in chocolate sauce - yes, chocolate all the way.

I am glad we tried Tangerine that night because, steaks were dying in Chennai. Very few places have a good steak and I am glad that Tangerine is serving up some excellent ones. The place was not full on a Saturday evening, but there was a floating crowd, yes. Service was quick and attentive and the waiters seemed to know the menu well and were able to recommend based on your requirements. I am not a big fan of the sizzlers served on a bed of rice at Tangerine - we told the waiter that. He said he will bring the lamb steak without the bed of rice and brought it separately. The meal cost us Rs 1495.

3.5/5

Tangerine is in Alwarpet. Take the road next to Chola Sheraton and drive all the way down, take the right at the end and you will find it on your right.

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Yes, proportions are important in cooking, cooking times are important in cooking, esp baking, but there is one sauce that I find to be very, for want of a better word, dynamic. The proportions, the cooking time and everything seems to change every time I make it and I have to keep adjusting. No amount of writing it down seems to help. I put up this query to seasoned cooks and they have asked me to post the recipe so that they can try it out and tell me what is so problematic with the recipe, so here goes!

This time around I used prawns and I plated it differently, but usually, I put in chicken and I plate it with the chicken breast smeared with lots of sauce and with a salad and rice on the sides. As you can see, this time, it was plated on grilled garlic bread!

The Sauce - It is a simple steak sauce and will not take you more than 15 minutes to make it.

Things you will need:

1 teaspoon onion
1 large onion cut in circles
1 cup of tomato puree
1 cup of Worcestershire sauce (hereafter I will type it as W sauce)
3 or 4 buttons of mushrooms chopped.
Salt and Pepper
Meat of Choice

I start off with a heated pan and put in the onions first till they dry out, then add the oil and cook till they are translucent. Then add the tomato puree and cook till the sauce reduces to half. Now add the salt, pepper, mushrooms and W sauce and keep stirring till the sauce again reduces by half! Now add the meat. If it is a chicken breast, it is best pre cooked, if it is prawns, it can be added right away. Cook for another two minutes in low heat till the prawns are cooked.

Done. I told you it was simple!

Now the problem part. I have found that every time the cooking of the tomato puree is slightly long by even a minute, the W sauce tends to overpower the steak sauce. It is a critical point where the sauce tastes great and since I have been doing this for quite sometime, I am able to add some more puree and cook longer if the sauce reduces too much and still has the overpowering W sauce taste and balance it. You will have to find your way of balancing the time, but once you do, you will love this sauce. This is always a hit at home and is very flexible as you can have any meat in it and can be used as a base sauce!

I love Sandy's on KNK Road, period. When driving around and not in the mood to experiment and I want a safe place that I know will definitely satisfy me, Sandy is one of the 'go to' places for me. During one of the food events at Fresca, I met Sandesh the owner and was fascinated by his knowledge of food and the industry. Having the fortune of meeting many chefs, food entrepreneurs and the likes, courtesy this blog, I am always on the look out for newer ideas and newer cuisines. When I heard that Sandy is coming up with a unique fine dine place in Chennai, I was more than excited.

The second time I met him, the concept of CHOP was unique - conceived as a place for extremely difficulty cooking techniques combined with the best of ingredients across the world. Alaskan Salmon and Waygu beef were supposed to be on the menu. But with the apparent lack of market for fine dining and people to appreciate them, a small place will reduce the overheads and keep the project viable till the concept picks up was supposed to be the plan! I saw someone post a picture about a main course at CHOP and it was exactly what I wanted to eat someday in Chennai. The reviews that came by stating that 'portions were small' and 'no mashed potatoes with the fish' were enough proof that maybe fine dining had finally arrived in Chennai outside of the Prego at Taj! Ok, what is this fine dine that I am talking about? I am talking about a minimum three course meal with palate cleansers. One main course will not fill you, because it is not expected to fill you. There might not be mashed potatoes because it is not designed to be there. And the meal will satisfy you, not making stuffed to the point of throwing up.

So with a heavy appetite and my tongue watering to the extent that any woman passing by thinking I was drooling at her, two of us walked into CHOP. After all this build up, imagine my disappointment when what I saw was nothing more than an extended menu from the Sandy's at KNK. Even as I write this, I can sense the disappointment creeping within me. I asked the waiter if I am in the right CHOP and he said that the menu I am looking for is 'no longer there'. When I probed further, I was told that 'people did not like that menu and portions'. I swallowed hard. Placed an order for crab cakes and a beef burger and stayed silent. Both of us were supremely disappointed.

The crab cakes arrived and it turned out to be simply outstanding. Crab cakes in most places in chennai are made with crab and binders and maybe even potatoes, but here, it was all crab. So much crab that I could actually smell the sea! The consistency suggested that they were frozen, but it did not matter. Three pieces and the disappointment started to slowly fade away! And then came the beef burger - and suddenly I was telling myself that fine dine can go to hell - this beef burger here was the best beef burger I have since I left the soil of USA! I was willing to try dessert knowing Sandy as a dessert King, but there were only three options and I went with the waiter's suggestion - a Campfire Treat. I don't know what all goes into it, but it was outstanding!!!!

Once the wonderful wonderful food settled itself into the stomach, the initial disappointment came back. Fine Dine in a small steakhouse which helps keeps the cost down without having golden walls to experience the food sounded like a good concept to me. Yes, CHOP right now is more of a steak house and a great one at that, but will we ever have the chance to experience fine dine with molecular gastronomy type cooking in Chennai? Only time will tell! I hope to meet the owner some other time and get an insight.

My experience was 4.5/5


That night I had a dream about Scuba Diving and Alaskan Salmon mocking me and another of a Waygu Beef written on a cow and it butting me!!!!

CHOP is located at TTK Road, a little beyond Bengarong (when coming from Park Sheraton), on the opposite side.

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What do you do when one out of the way lunch leaves you wanting more!?! You skip the routine, again, and land up at another restaurant for lunch. So after the BBQ Chicken episode which left two of us happy and two very unhappy, we decided to land our back sides at Opal Inn, a place that everyone is comfortable with!

Again, we cut straight to the chase and ordered four main courses, each a meal by itself. While we were enquiring about the grilled chicken the waiter said "Its good sir, but you should try the fish, the grilled fish is better". I asked about the diamond grill, my one time favorite at Opal Inn and he said, "That is our specialty sir, but you should try the grilled fish, it is excellent". My friend asked about the Beef Goulash and guess what - the fish was fresh and so apparently excellent! Two of my friends kept the menu aside and said 'Ok, just get me the grilled fish', while I asked for the diamond grill and the other guy asked for the Beef Goulash! We were talking about how the waiter managed to push the most expensive item on the menu, at Rs 440 a piece, to us!

But when the fish arrived, the other two of us were making faces! The tasting portion that was allowed by the other two guys was superb! I don't know if this is how it usually is or if the fish was particularly fresh that day, but it was outstanding! My diamond gril, which by the way is nothing but grilled lamb served with rice and a salad was good as usual and the beef goulash was another nice dish, though served with only rice, the fish was a major distraction. It was served on a sizzler with salads, garlic bread, salad and more of the grill sauce to dip and was the star of the day.

For the price, the portions are huge! There is a heafty amount of rice and if you manage to eat it all, like we did, there is no way we could work! By evening we were debating if we should have ordered two starters and shared two main courses and I skipped dinner! But my appetite is on the downside right now, however, the portions are fairly good. The bill was Rs 2150, so the Rs 440 had a tax and a service charge additional to it and no matter how much I hate the fact that it is not on the menu and I have to do the math to see how much a dish actually costs, it is a practice that is here to stay!!!! But yeah, the fish's actual cost came down to Rs 500!!!!

The experience was 3.5/5 for me, but the after experience was 2/5. I would not do this for lunch unless I have nothing to do afterwards!!! Or share!!!! And please excuse the poor quality pictures, when I am out for a work lunch, no fancy DSLR around and phone cannot handle low light very well!!!


Opal Inn is located in the premises of Ranjith Hotels, on Nungambakkam High Road (diag opp Ishpahani Center)

After another round of coffee at the Matteo coffee lounge on Church Street, we decided to go to The Only Place for dinner, because it came with very high recommendation from friends. So we walked down the road, then turned on Nokia maps and found our way only to realize that the place was rather packed! Since it was a little late and not having the mood to look for another place to eat, we decided to wait the ten minutes and were seated in a corner.

It's a nice little joint, with bits and pieces of greenery around, almost like a shack surrounded by a small garden. We ordered an iced tea, my friend ordered a veg lasagna, as it was his weekly day off from meat eating and sins cleansing, the other friend ordered a beef steak, thinking I will help him eat it and I ordered a Irani burger!

Food came out in about 10 minutes, but the portions were humongous. The burger was pretty large, nice soft patty, topped with grilled mushrooms and sauces which made it very very juicy. I saw a whopper burger being served to the next table and I was trying to see if it was bigger than my head! The lasagna was surprisingly good and none of us really missed meat in it, very well done, but American lasagna with the typical tomato overdose. The beef steak was super soft and juicy and made sure we did not have space for dessert.

And then the garden around the shack showed us some rats, big ones. Maybe if we saw those rats before we began our meal, we might have had second thoughts, but I hope those rats were only in the garden and not in the kitchen. Though I loved Ratatouille, the movie, I am not yet ready for a rat infested restaurant. But the food tasted great, so no complaints! The stomach did not create a fuss the following day and I didn't not get the plague or leptospirosis, so I guess the rats were only playing in the garden.

Only Place came with great recommendations from both my Chennai and Bangalore friends and it is a superb place to get huge portions of unhealthy, but tasty food! Service is decent and prices were around the Rs. 300 mark per dish on an average!

Its located just off MG road, go down the road that has the Empire Hotel and you will find it on your left.

Food 8/10
Service 8/10
Ambiance 6/10
Price 8/10


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Going back to the Latitude after almost a couple of years turned out to be a wonderful culinary evening for my friend and me. We had skipped lunch due to a meeting and decided to have early dinner and so landed here after debating for quite a while. This a a rather expensive coffee shop type place, with it's own unique genre. Just a few tables, a nice cosy place upstairs which can seat a few people and is best for a group of 6-10 people and in general good food is a winner in Chennai. And this is no different.

Since we were both hungry, we ordered a 'Chicken soup for the hungry soul'. It turned out to be a chicken soup of the hungry village! A huge portion of soup, which after splitting one by two still turned out to be too much. It's a simple chicken broth loaded with brocolli, other veggies and boiled chicken. The portion is on par with the soups at Cascade! We then had nachos and a roast chicken daily special. The nachos, though tasted decent, was a let down, because, the nacho sauce, salsa and the refried mashed beans were heated straight from the refrigerator and served, not something that i would expect from the Park, but it was not cold and tasted decent, so we let go. The roast chicken was an outstanding dish, roasted to perfection, the sauce could have been a little more, but that takes nothing away from the dish.

My friend insisted on having desserts and after the first one, insisted on having one more. So we first had a New York cheese cake, not the best in the world, but certainly a very good one. This was followed by a triple chocolate dessert, which had a heavenly brownie, a little mousse and some chocolate and was superb!

It's an expensive coffee shop, but one that comes with fantastic food and polite service, you kind of wish that they had the space or Amethyst or the types. The total bill for all the five dishes above was Rs. 1199!

Food 8/10
Ambiance 8/10
Service 8/10
Price 8/10

Latitude is located in the same premesis as Good Earth, on the road parallel to KNK road, Nungambakkam. It's the road adjacent to the building that hosts Deutche Bank.

What not to miss: Triple chocolate, thai salad, roast chicken and if you're not too critical, then the cheese cake.
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No trip to Bangalore is complete without trying out a new place to stuff myself and this visit turned out so much better. After scouting for a new place, my bangalore foodie friend narrowed it down to Fat Chef because it was close to where we stayed and reviews were pretty good. So off and the place took us by surprise. It was a super elegant place, nice and eclectic interiors with a small garden on one end with tables there and a winery inside restaurant. Full marks to the ambiance.

We were looking at starter options when we saw a main course go to the next table, it was humongous. So we skipped the starters and ordered a grilled fish special of the day and a cheese and prawns stuffed chicken. And both the dishes turned out to be super amazing. The fish was a nice big fillet, perfectly spiced and well done, served with the right condiments. The chicken was a rare dish, it was a breast of chicken sliced open, stuffed with prawns and cheese and grilled and served with condiments. We were both full (well, we had something to eat a couple of hours back), but still there is always place for dessert. So we chose the blueberry cheese cake. In most places in Chennai, blueberry cheese cake means, a cheese cake with blueberry compote on top, but not here. The cheese cake was flavored just right with blueberry, so it was slightly bluish and even without the compote, tasted like blueberry cheese cake. Just perfect.

The reviews were unanimous in rating the service low and had mentioned that the waiters were rude, but we had a great time. Our waiter was polite, knew the menu and helped us select our lunch. And the bill was Rs. 1012, which is very good for the kind of food we had.

Food 9/10
Service 9/10
Ambiance 9.5/10
Price 9/10

Fat Chef is located in Whitefield, in the Jagriti Complex. When coming from Marathali, it's on your left, a couple of kilometers before the Forum Value Mall.

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After being at their launch quite sometime back, I was going here for the first time after what has been so long. I was meeting a friend after an even longer period and we decided to try it out. While I was waiting for the 'UK return' to wade his way through traffic, I got my self a grilled chicken burger. The burger and the friend came at the same time and after exchanging pleasantries with him and staring longingly at the burger, I dug into it. A retry nice, juicy, grilled chicken burger it was, served with fries.

The friend ordered a grilled chicken sizzler and we got a beef bruschetta, but it is called by a different name here. The beef was full bodied, flavorful with the right amount of cheese on top, but the steak was a it disappointment for me. The friend thought it was not bad though, but I have certainly had better sizzlers.

The ambiance is a bit cramped, but elegant nevertheless. Service was pretty good, but since the place is split into rooms, getting someone's attention is quite something, but someone comes in once a while to see if everything's ok. Prices are typical of a place in nungambakkam and a meal for two should cost somewhere around Rs. 1200 or so.

It was nice to meet one of the owners, Mr. Thomas, who enquired if everything was ok and he explained that there's no cuisine attached to the restaurant and they have tried to serve everything that they enjoy eating, so that explains the menu.

Food 8/10
Ambiance 8/10
Service 8/10
Price 8/10


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So, work took me to Bangalore and needless to say I ate out at every opportunity. Though I hate to admit it, Bangalore has a lot more to offer foodies than Chennai and sigh...........

Anish took me to Elementz and was raving about it all the way from the train station to the restaurant and my expectation was hitting the roof. We parked the car on a small street opp Elementz and walked to a super rustic ambiance that was like Mocha, but with less, well, drug den effect. If it gets cold though, the inside seating would be a much better option. I got the menu and was shocked to see such a huge offering of steak, both vegetarian and otherwise. Being a steak lover, I got myself a cowboy steak for the first time outside of the US, while he got himself a shepherd's pie. We also got chicken croquets for starters which turned out to be crisp and tasty. The steak was super succulent and super tasty, just brilliant and is easily the best steak I have had in a very long time. The shepherds pie turned out equally good and was glad that it was served like the tradition, in a pot. It was well set unlike the runny one (and a bad one) you get at 10D. The cheese cake was a perfect finish to our dinner.

Service was decent and since we were sitting in an area close to the waiting tables, there was always someone near by. Like I mentioned, the ambiance was very nice and cosy and like the ambiance shows, the place serves seesha. Prices are on par with bangalore rates with steaks being priced at around Rs, 300-400. Apparently they have opened up a fine dining Indian restaurant which serves some great indian food in a continental style per plated fare and I am dying to get back to bangalore and try it.

Food 8.5/10
Service 7/10
Ambiance 8/10
Price 8/10

Elementz is located on Nandidurg road, Jayamahal extension and I have no idea how to get there, maybe someone from bangalore can help.

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After hearing about the 'rock' sizzler concept emulating 'On the rocks' from Park Sheraton, I knew I had to visit this place soon! And so when a bunch of people wanted to meet, I tricked them to come here. The place is an example of what good interiors can do to a place. This is the same place that had the 'Sweet Chariot' cafe, but looks completely different with a full make over! Decent, well done interiors and a few cozy corners in the ground floor for the romantics!

We ordered about 4 starters, 3 sizzlers, 1 burger and 1 pasta. I do not remember the exact names of the starters, but they were all decent both in portions and in taste. The mexican tortilla formed the base for 3 of the 4 starters and the corn filling, chicken filling and the mixed veg fillings were all good enough!

For the main course, we had an Arabian Chicken Sizzler, a Madras Curry Sizzler, and Chicken Stroganhoff and another chicken sizzler. The sizzlers are all served with a small portion of herbed rice, beans, carrot and a decent portion of gravy. The Arabian Chicken sizzler was with 1 large piece of chicken leg, potato wedges and the above. It was decent, but being priced at Rs 340 I definitely think it was small portion! The madras curry sizzler was more of a masala dosa with fried idlies served on a sizzler rock, tasted good, but again over priced. The chicken stroganhoff was nice and different, with a soaked bread base along with the traditional rice and the stroganhoff chicken on top. The dishes are served on a hard thick base instead of the thin sizzler, but is in NO WAY comparable to the concept of 'On the rocks' where the food is cooked right in front of you on the rock!

The chicken burger was very good, small diameter but tall and the patty was excellent. The pasta was alright, definitely not bad!

For desserts we had a custard pudding served with ice cream and a chocolate brownie with ice cream. The first one was excellent, while the brownie (served on a pineapple) was not fresh at all and spoilt the dish.

Service was pretty good. No complaints on that front and the food kept coming quickly, maybe because there were only 3 full tables. Will have to go back on a full day and see how the service and taste of food is when they have lesser time to pay attention to individual tables. But I certainly think the sizzlers are over priced for the quantity and size. KOBE sizzlers are also pricing it the same way. but alteast there one sizzler will kind of fill you. Maybe we have to get ready to spend more on food now.

Price          5/10
Ambiance  7/10
Service      7/10
Food         7/10.

Holy Smoke is located in Ishpahani Center on Nungambakkam high road, in the same shop that used to host 'Sweet Chariot'

KOBE grills have now opened up shop in Chennai right at the heart of town. Located behind Apollo Hospitals, in Wallace Garden, KOBE will now compete with Tuscana, Subway, Casa Picola and a million other places a stone's throw away. Apparently liked by quite a few people at Delhi and other places, they have franchised one now in Chennai.

As you enter, you cannot help but notice the simple, but nice and elegant interiors. I would have preferred more space between tables in a steak/sizzler joint with smoke coming from all directions, but that was not to be. Luckily we went in early (both in terms of restaurant opening day and time) and were the only ones for quite sometime before few more people decided to take a peek.

We were two of us and had only 2 sizzlers so I can only speak for those two. The portions are HUGE. We ordered a grilled beef steak with schezwan sauce and a grilled chicken steak with garlic sauce. You get a decent portion of meat with a number of different vegetables, all grilled, all around the steak and makes it look BIG!!!!

One pleasant surprise was that both the dishes tasted different sauce wise. It is not uncommon to visit a restaurant and order two steaks and find that the only difference was the meat, but here, the base sauce (although the same colour), was different for both. But the extra schezwan (which you can see in the picture, red and angry) and garlic sauces were poured carelessly over the steak on top! The schezwan sauce was overly, overly, overly spicy,something like andhra times andhra!!!!!! The garlic sauce was ok, but if I go again, I would avoid the sauces (and the extra Rs 20) you pay just for a jab of sauce. I completely removed the schezwan sauce and placed it on the next plate.

The beef was extremely tender....he did not ask me how I would like my steak, a relatively basic question that all steak joints will ask!!!! The meat was well tenderized and easy to eat, but hey, I like my steak medium done! I was not even offered that option. The chicken steak was decent. The veges served more than make up for the meal and you might not need any side orders. The steaks were priced around Rs 320 each, justified only by the size.

Decent place, would like to go back in a larger group and try out more steaks and steak burgers, but if my intuitions are right, we have another extremely Indianized steak outlet, nothing particularly great, but another place to eat!!!!

Food 6/10
Service 7/10
Ambiance 8/10
Price 6/10

KOBE is located in Wallace Gardens, behind Apollo Hospitals, or the road adjacent to Tuscana.